us, that that's the reason why, and we're living in a nation in decline. >> hold on one second. >> hey, i love you like mad, but the fastest we've had in the country is during world war ii when taxes were dramatically, fantastically higher than they are now. higher taxes are not automatically correlated with the-- >> i'm sorry, but-- >> guys, hold on one second, ben, i want to say something to that, that's brought up all the time. have you ever looked at the percentage of the population that was paying that high rate? it would be, if you adjusted for inflation, it'd be someone making 3.6 million dollars now. it's sort of an farce to say we have high tax rates in the past and it worked. at what level, ben, do you personally say ouch. okay for the government to take 60, 70, 80, 90% of what you earn. >> wait a second during world war ii even wage earners were paying taxes 30% and taxes were much higher for everyone, so, i'd say ouch right now. i mean, when i pay my taxes, it's breath taking how much i pay. but i'm afraid they have to be even higher if we're going to balance the bu